Illumination brought the world of Enlightment themes over from the X Windows System to MS Windows, and later branched out into early KDE themes. One of the first, if not the first, was eFX, though the program stalled at version 0.40. In the late 1990s, some apps went beyond tweaking Windows colors, and tackled skinning the Windows GUI.
In the years to follow, Windows wouldn't give users too much more control without messing around in the registry, but a creative individual made a little app, 3DCC, to tweak every Windows UI color, as seen in this video.
Microsoft's OSes from the similar eras had more limited customization potential, providing the the option to change a few colors. Before "skinning" was a term, Amiga programmers and users had various routes for customizing their GUI, including Magic User Interface.
#WINAMP FOR MAC MOUNTAIN LION SOFTWARE#
"Skins" was first used to describe a user-customizable software software for Quake in 1996, when the game allowed users to apply new "skins" to their characters. Digital zines were put together, discussing the progression applications and the skinners as artists. Skinners would make complete suites of skins, carrying over the same design aesthetic to multiple programs. Members could upload skins for well over 100 different applications, and their work could be rated and critiqued by others, along with discussion forums and news posts on new and upgraded skinnable applications. As Winamp became more easily customizable and other applications became skinnable, those basic sites were replaced with skinning sites, not only collections of skins, but also communities. When people realized they could modify the look of Winamp, websites popped up with pre-customized Winamp applications to download. In 2002, Winamp3 came out, and with it, the capability to completely reorganize the GUI with a scripting language. This process was streamlined in version 2, with the ability to load custom skins. But modifying the appearance of the program required use of a resource editor. This unique GUI made the application stand out from most of the other applications running on Windows at the time. By version 0.92, some of the well-known dark grey interface was used, but the main player wasn't fully skinned until version 1.0. The very first version of Winamp, 0.2, was visually uninteresting. But for those still using traditional computers of one sort or another, it's not too late to modify your interface. Now approaching a post-WIMP (windows, icons, menus and a pointer) era, where skinning is done with alternative launchers. Wired captured something of the excitement at its peak in an article from 2000, before computing began shifting to more closed devices. From a version 0.2, a visually dull app in June 1997, to easy user customization in version 2 in September 1998, and the complexly customizable Winamp3 in August 2002. To a degree, the history of the media player Winamp (YT, 7:03 transcript with pictures) mirrors the history of skinning. Enter " skinning," the casual term for interface customization. On the software side, most operating systems feature some potential for customization, though this is often limited to tweaking the colors and sounds. Many people are familiar with computer case modifications, thanks to the photogenic nature of mods.